Andrej Babiš appointed Czech prime minister

The billionaire leader of the populist ANO party Andrej Babiš was appointed prime minister of the Czech Republic in a ceremony Wednesday, according to Reuters.

The 63-year-old businessman set up ANO in 2011 as a protest against government corruption. Running on a platform of financial responsibility and immigration control, his party won October parliamentary elections by a landslide, with 29.6 percent of the vote.

The next question is whether Babiš will be able to form a government. Czech police last month asked the country’s parliament to lift his parliamentary immunity so that he could be prosecuted for fraud in a case involving a €2 million EU subsidy. Most parties in the lower house of parliament have said they won’t form a coalition with him while he faces charges from the police.